Tigers maul and kill a man who entered an enclosure with son at northern China wildlife park

BEIJING — Tigers mauled a man to death after he entered their enclosure with his son at a northern Chinese wildlife park, police and a park spokesman said Monday.

Staff at the Qingling Wildlife Park in the city of Xi’an rescued the son Sunday afternoon after discovering his father lying on the ground as several tigers stood nearby, said the park’s spokesman, Jiao Congling.

The man suffered neck injuries and was declared dead after being taken to a hospital, Jiao said.

A preliminary investigation showed a park worker had failed to properly close the gates leading to the enclosure and the unidentified pair simply walked right in, Xi’an police spokesman Li Yanrong said.

The park staff member responsible for controlling the gates was detained for questioning, Li said.

The father, 45, had taken his 17-year-old son to the park as a reward for completing a grueling university entrance exam. The teenager suffered minor injuries, the official Xinhua News agency said.

Jiao said the park has 50 tigers, only five of which were in the enclosure at the time of the attack. Staff members drove vehicles in to scare off the tigers before attending to the pair, he said.